Armed Woodstock man, girlfriend arrested after four-hour manhunt

Missing Credit

Missing Credit

Joseph Cox

Missing Credit

Missing Credit

Shannon Young

By Leslie H. Dixon, Sun Journal •November 30, 2011 5:43 am

WOODSTOCK, Maine — An armed man who police say assaulted a family member and threatened others Tuesday was arrested four hours later when residents called police to say he and his girlfriend were knocking on their door.

Joseph Cox, 26, of 178 Perkins Valley Road, was arrested shortly before 4 p.m. at a house beside Route 26, ending the manhunt that involved about 50 county and state police officers, said Capt. Hart Daley of the Oxford County Sheriff’s Office. The house was north of the Mollyockett Motel, about 2 miles from where the assault was reported, officials said.

The two were taken to the Oxford County Jail in Paris where Cox was booked on charges of domestic violence assault, domestic violence terrorizing and violation of bail, officials said. He was carrying a pellet gun when arrested, Daley said.

Cox was being held without bail for an appearance in 11th District Court in Paris at about 1 p.m., officials said.

Young was wanted on a Bangor warrant for failure to pay fines and was being held on $320 cash bail Tuesday night.

Daley said the incident began at about 11:30 a.m. when a relative of Cox called police to say he had assaulted a family member. The victim was taken to Stephens Memorial Hospital in Norway where he was treated under police protection and released.

Because the investigation is ongoing, Daley said he could not comment further about the assault.

“A family member, a brother, the grandmother or father called initially,” Daley said. Members of Cox’s family live in close proximity on Perkins Valley Road, he said.

Cox is a lifelong resident of the area and is believed to live with his father, Daley said.

When the assault was reported, Daley said, three state police officers in the area and three officers from the Oxford County Sheriff’s Office responded to Perkins Valley Road. Once they determined the situation, 40 or more members of the State Police Tactical Team, sheriff’s deputies and others were called, eventually setting up a command post and searching for Cox.

Five to seven residents, including a woman who was baby-sitting an infant and Cox’s family members, were escorted by police from nearby houses to the fire station or command center, Daley said. He said some had been threatened by Cox.

Later, residents at a house on Route 26 had been listening to a police scanner and apparently recognized the couple outside knocking on their door as the suspects, Daley said. They called the county dispatch center, and officers went to the house and arrested the pair without incident, he said.